Review of Mission Impossible (1971) by Stuart K — 02 Sep 2011

The original TV series of Mission: Impossible, created by Bruce Geller, ran from 1966 to 1973, and became a worldwide hit. Tom Cruise loved the series so much, he bought the rights to do a film version, and he got in Brian De Palma to direct it.

It was a winning combination, filled with action, suspense and a good cast too. This is about a secret branch of the CIA known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), whose team includes his wife Claire (Emmanuelle BÃ (C)art), Jack Harmon (Emilio Estevez), Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Ethan Hunt (Cruise).

When a mission in Prague goes horribly wrong, every agent but Ethan and Claire are killed. Ethan finds out that he's been framed as being a mole, and is out to prove his innocence. He has to find a list of covert agents in Eastern Europe for Max (Vanessa Redgrave), so he assembles a team of disavowed agents including Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) to break into the CIA so they can get the list.

However, things are not what they seem, and it becomes a game of triple crossing. The plot is a bit confused, but it does have some good moments in it, like the high-wire stunt in the CIA's computer room and the battle on top of the train going nto the Channel Tunnel.

It's success enabled a sequel or three, and it has a good cast too.